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Three Options For A New Star Wars Trilogy

Earlier today, Disney announced that it was buying Lucasfilm, which includes all of its properties. Tantalizingly, the deal also includes the news that there will be a new Star Wars movie coming out, with a scheduled 2015 release date. With Disney now owning the Star Wars properties comes the idea that the movies could get a fresh start. Let’s move past the stories about Vader, Luke and others and explore the grand universe of Star Wars. Impossible, you say? But that’s exactly what Star Trek did 25 years ago when they replaced Kirk, Spock and McCoy with a balding Frenchman, bearded ladies man, and android sidekick. Like Star Trek, the Star Wars universe is bigger than any given set of main characters, and done properly, a new trilogy could excite us in the same way the originals did long, long ago.

Here are three quick suggestions for cleaning the slate and starting Star Wars all over again.

Star Wars: Return of the Sith

My first suggestion for a new Star Wars trilogy would be to take the Star Trek: The Next Generation path. Set our new trilogy about 100 years after the first one. There’s been 100 years of peace now that the Galactic Republic has been re-established. The Sith have been destroyed. And a new Jedi Order keeps the peace. Go back to the “coming of age” story of Luke Skywalker and center this new trilogy around a young Jedi Master, just out of the Academy. Put him in the thick of things as the Galaxy faces a new threat – the return of the Sith Order. There are plenty of fun possibilities to expand the universe of the original here.

Star Wars: The First Jedi

We’re told by Lucasfilm canon that the Jedi Order had been keeping the peace in the Galaxy for tens of thousands of years. But what was it like for the first Jedi? Imagine waking up one day and discovering that you can move objects with your mind, sense the presence of others – or even see the future. The great thing about this paradigm is that like Star Wars borrowed from the serials of the 30s, this could borrow from modern day superhero movies. I imagine a storyline something like the X-Men story – with the first Jedi and the first Sith being friends, perhaps. Until their philosophies and the vagaries of galactic politics drove them apart. This would be, I think, a great vehicle for either Bryan Singer or Brad Bird of Pixar.

Star Wars: The Joss Whedon Version

Let’s face it: with Joss Whedon having successfully helmed The Avengers, which has pulled in over $1.5 billion to date, you know that a Joss Whedon-helmed Star Wars is on at least a handful of Disney executive’s minds. And Whedon would be perfect for it, having already developed the sci-fi/western cult TV series Firefly. There are plenty of niches for Whedon to explore a coming-of-age story, a cowboy Star Wars type story, or what have you. This would be right up Whedon’s alley, and simply letting him have carte blanche over it would probably reap some great rewards for Disney.

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He’ll stay on as a “consultant.” But in the press release, he said: “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. “

Audiences accepted a new Kirk, Spock and McCoy, I think they’ll be fine with a new Luke, Leia and Han. The key, though, is to make sure the characters are well written and cast with talented actors who have respect for the originals, but don’t feel completely bound by them.

To be honest, I’m going to have a hard time being at all interested in the next movies if they aren’t at least loosely based on Thrawn. They’re the best Star Wars books out there, and an excellent follow-up to the original trilogy. I can get past a recast, just like I did Star Trek.

Just find Timothy Zahn and PAY HIM MONEY. Give me the Thrawn Trilogy, like yesterday… you know, something well written, good action, and great characters.. who doesn’t want to see Mara Jade on the big screen?